Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a lawsuit today with 14 other attorneys general to stop the U.S. Department of Education from unlawfully terminating congressionally approved school-based mental health grants. In defiance of a court order, the Trump administration plans to terminate these grants at the end of July.
“When a student is having mental health concerns—or is in crisis—they need to have trusted counselors at their school who can help them navigate those tough times,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “The Trump administration is once again trying to strip mental health support from students who need it most – and once again, we’re taking them to court to stop it.”
In the wake of devastating school shootings, Congress appropriated $1 billion in a bipartisan vote to bring 14,000 mental health professionals into the U.S. schools that need them most, particularly in low-income and rural communities. The results have been striking: in their first year, the programs served nearly 775,000 students nationwide, with sampled projects showing a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, along with drops in absenteeism and behavioral issues and gains in student-staff engagement.
In April 2025, the department told grantees in Oregon and other coalition states that their grants would be discontinued for conflicting with the administration’s new priorities — later revealed to mean the grants’ perceived ties to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition sued in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that July. In December 2025, the coalition won an order declaring the discontinuations unlawful and a permanent injunction barring the department from implementing them “through any means.”
The Trump Administration has since admitted that most grants should have continued, but has kept working to hinder, threaten, and ultimately eliminate them. It issued continuation awards only through mid-2026, funding just six months at a time and burying grantees in unnecessary paperwork — diverting staff time from student mental health services to compliance with busy work.
The department said it would review the grants at the six-month mark. Instead, it has targeted the same grants the injunction protects and announced plans to terminate them outright. By calling this a “termination” rather than a “discontinuation,” the Trump Administration is attempting to sidestep the court’s order. The coalition is fighting this maneuver and has filed a new lawsuit to block the termination and close any gaps threatening the grants.
The attorneys general allege the planned terminations violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution and have moved for a preliminary injunction to block them.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
